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I didn't monitor my situation closely so I would know when I MUST absolutely stop

I didn't follow my trade plan

I didn't wait for trade confirmation before entries

I didn't revisit my SNIPER MINDSET through the day

I actually tried to catch the bottom multiple times and then I tried catch the top (STUPID)

Overtraded...

I am just waiting to hear from TopStep Trader but back to the Combine I go and rightly so. It's time for me to LEARN from my mistakes NOT just to be aware of them BUT to truly change them and get back to Live Trader Preparation as soon as possible. The one positive note for the day is that I know I can do it!

Any thoughts on how you can aor will prevent this from happening again? Stop methods? etc.
Good work on your former combine. Love the updates.

Any thoughts on how you can aor will prevent this from happening again? Stop methods? etc.
Good work on your former combine. Love the updates.

Oh yes! This may seem surprising but this blow up had nothing to do with the trade plan, risk management and stops. I have all that in place I just didn't think of it or apply it at the moment. I was to wrapped up in what was happening. Tunnel focused. Prideful. This was pure mental and emotional. I have done several things to help me in this area. I don't know if they all would be helpful to others but I know they should be for me. Here are some:

I have always been a list person. So one thing I am doing is printing off my morning prep list and checking things off one by one - A "To Do List" but when its on the screen I don't use it as effectively

I have also created a ongoing list to use through the day to ensure that I do several things to help prevent this and print it off as well

I am in the process of going backwards day by day for the past month and doing morning prep and actual trades until I have a minimum of 6 to 8 trade setups each day and then I stop for that day - I haven't needed the afternoon session yet? Why am I doing this to prove to myself that I don't have to jump into just any trade setup there is always another one around the corner - Specifically, I don't have to jump into a trade when I just get up in the morning.

As mentioned before I am covering my screens or have them off so I don't see them when I wake up - Some day when we don't have so many people living with us, I hope to move my office out of the bedroom which should help in this area

I have been in a mental fog here for awhile and we think that it might have to do with all the drinks I have through the day which contain aspertame (not sure of spelling) and sucrolose (again not sure). I am too lazy to go and look up the correct spelling. So I am taking them out of my life gradually. Goal now is to get to drinking 1 every 2 to 3 days, then drinking 1 a week and see from there....

There are others but you get the idea. The ongoing list through the day is real helpful.

So far 2 losing trades. It has been a low volume, range bound day with a bunch of bear traps so far. I have been caught in each of them. My first trade was a little aggressive, I took a 1ES SHORT on what I thought was a new developing SHORT Channel. I then missed the 2ES SHORT on that idea which worked for +10 ticks but it was followed by a pullback with a strong SHORT Candle. Anticipating price to drop I entered and was stopped out with a larger stop.

Following my plan I stopped trading and stepped away from the computer. I came back and updated my chart only to see that my short channel did develop and I missed a beautiful 2ES SHORT. However, as beautiful as it was price still hasn't moved down lower, we are stuck in this range. I am done trading until I can see who gets control. Hoping that we don't stay in this range all day but we may for a few hours.

Crude (CL)

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Ugly Day! Back from another break. I was NOT in the grove today. I passed on what turned out to be the best trade of the day and that was the breakout - retest of the range to the LONG side. Then I couldn't find a good entry signal to get in on that move. Once it reached the measured move and range expansion targets and then overshot the channel I started to look for shorts anticipating a pullback to at least the mid-line of the channel. Unfortunately, I was too aggressive and got stopped out on 2 trades a 2nd entry long failure and what I thought was a failed breakout to the upside which turned out to be another breakout - retest of the range. I don't know what I was thinking on that 2nd trade that is not even one of my trade entry signals. I should have entered long there. Price then peaked and of course started its way back to the mid-line. Unfortunately, as price was pulling back a super strong bull candle appeared right off my major moving average so I entered a trade to the long side looking for price to retest the highs. You guessed it! I was stopped out again this time but only with 1 contract. 5 losing trades in a day and I am done in accordance with my plan. I was also very close to my personal daily loss limit of $1,500. I did forget to switch to trading 1 contract once I exceeded a $1,000 in losses. I did so on my last trade though. My new personal daily loss limit until I recover from today's losses will be $600 (2 losing trades with 3 contracts). After I have recouped my losses and am back positive my personal daily loss limit will jump up to $900 and go no higher for the remainder of the Combine. I will post a picture a little later.

I blew my continuous combine by over-trading and returning to that mental fog. So, I stepped away from everything related to trading for a couple days. It actually was a very good idea. However, I wanted to get my feet wet again so to speak before the weekend with 1 positive trade. The only problem was early today when I was able to be in front of the computer price was stuck in congestion. A setup occurred just as I had to get ready to leave for my daughter's honors ceremony at school but didn't want to enter the trade because I would be away from my computer and home for to long a period, and much can happen during that time. When I returned I examined the charts and saw that price had reached T2 but price had not yet completed the measured move. I elected to wait since we were so far in the trend to see if price would complete the measured move and give me a possible trade setup for a correction. It did! I took the trade at the early stages of a correction but didn't enter right on the entry signal but instead waited for confirmation. It cost me a few ticks but figured it was worth it to wait since this was an aggressive trade and I didn't want to have my 1 trade be a loser. The trade had a 1:1 risk to reward ratio. My initial stop was -15 ticks, I quickly moved it to -6 ticks and then when a price bar completed with a small wick 1 tick from my target I moved my stop to +1 to be in a risk free trade. My target for the trade was 1 tick before the 43.19 (the fib target 2 and initial target from candlesticks) for +14 ticks per contract. I traded 3 contracts and was expecting price to test the 45.38 level but I didn't want to ride the trade out that long especially being later in the day on a Friday. It's good to be back in the saddle again! Have a great weekend!

Crude (CL)

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